Beijing Boyce

In the summer reading section last issue, I should have included Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential, which looks at the restaurant business in general and the author’s transformation from oyster-eating youngster to drug-abusing kitchen grunt to increasingly respectable New York chef in particular. The most useful excerpt concerns a couple known for throwing excellent dinner parties and encouraged by friends into opening a restaurant, only to realize that people are far more likely to show up when the food is free. There is a lesson or two here for prospective bar owners. / I’ll also recommend two websites. The first is news.imagethief.com, created by “an American spin doctor in Beijing” who provides insights into both the PR field and life in the Middle Kingdom. (His “How to Survive a Chinese Drinking Party” is a modern-day “Art of War” for those battling a night of baijiu.) The second is danwei.org, which tracks “media, advertising and urban life” in China, and is run by the brains behind the sexy Centro ad campaign. / I’m not a big fan of bartenders doing fancy tricks with bottles, but this guy, apparently at Beijing’s Salsa Caribe, is impressive: www.youtube.com/watch?v=agRiiO6-Po0. / To those who have patiently been waiting for my Whisky and Bourbon Society, I will send out a survey by Monday to find out where, when and how often you would like to meet. If you are interested in the society but do not receive the survey, please let me know. (Note: I’ve contacted several distilleries about this project and will provide an update next issue.) / My goal when starting this newsletter last October was 500 readers. On Wednesday, thanks to Adam D. signing up, I reached it. Who are your fellow readers? There are 130 people working in hotels, restaurants, bars, or wine and spirits companies, 80 in the local and foreign media, and 290 that hold jobs ranging from diplomat to homemaker to English teacher to businessperson. I owe many thanks to those readers who have passed on this newsletter to their friends and acquaintances over the past ten months. I’ll be back next issue with reviews of Face (first impressions are good) and A Che (a Cuba-inspired spot), and notes on pairing Chinese food and wine. Until then, eat, drink and be merry. Cheers, BB.

(From Beijing Boyce XXII, first emailed on August 12, 2006)